The first novel I read is Midnight, the masterpiece of Mao Dun (1896-1981), who is considered a milestone and a revolutionist in China's modern literature. That was many years ago, and I still remember the pale blue color of the cover with the elegantly printed title on it. It took me a whole night to read the long story. My encounter with Mao Dun's magnum opus was long before other literary masterpieces such as Dream of the Red Mansion and Madame Bovary were reprinted and made available to the public in China after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The novel opened up the mystical world of Wuzhen, making me dream of spending a night there and taking a midnight walk in the town, just as the writer did many, many times.

The literal reference of "乌", pronounced "wu" in Chinese, in most of the Jiangnan regions of China, is the color that borders black. It makes a lot of sense in the name "Wuzhen", suggestive of the pitchy color of the fertile soil of the alluvial plain where the "water town" is sited.

Wuzhen is one of the brightest pearls in the long list of "water towns" across China's Jiangnan, and is one of the most culturally distinct, thanks to such big names as Mao Dun, who used his beloved hometown as the most important backdrop of all his works.

The fame of Wuzhen first came from Dongzha, where the ancestral home of Mao Dun, located on Guanqian Street, is drawing cultural buffs throughout the year. The 450-square-meter estate is a well-conserved  wood structure divided into the east and west wings, allegedly purchased by two installments by the great grandfather of Mao Dun. The rebuilding of the three studies inside the house allegedly cost more than half of the royalty the writer earned from the publishing of Midnight. It is believed that Mao Dun also wrote his Polygonal Relationship in one of the studies. I can picture the scene of the man's leisurely walk or tea break at his favorite teahouse near the stone bridge after a tiring writing session in the old house.

In The Road I Walked Through, the writer entioned his favorite teahouse:"The day of  my grandfather started with a cup of morning tea at Fang Lu Ge teahouse,or at the West Park, when his musical mood set in……"

The lovely view of ancient architectural complexes and beautiful reflections of the houses in the river in front of the Fang Lu Ge teahouse must have inspired the writer a million times. We had no time for the tea when we were there, but I can imagine how the writer must have felt refreshed when taking in the mellowness of the sunset landscape of the water town to his heart’s content.

The patio outside the study teems with plants. The palm tree planted by the writer right after the completion of the construction of the studies has thrived for more than 80 years.

On a sunny day in the springtime of 1934, the writer was out for a walk to see the town’s temple fair, held once a year around the Qingming Festival. The hilarious spectacle of street performers, vendors and ne'er-do-wells interacting with each  other was later recorded vividly in one of his essays, titled The Temple Fair.

During my promenade in the town, I chanced upon a leather-silhouette show of Wu Song Subdues the Tiger at the square used as the venue for the temple fair. I sneaked into the backstage to find out more about the stunts of the performers. Most of the scenes on the stage were manipulated by an old man using his two hands; and the roaring of the "tiger" was made by an instrumentalist who used something like a "suona" (a woodwind instrument). The tempo and the tension created by such a tiny team impressed me.

The town's Dongzha area is the crystallization of the 6,000-year vicissitude of the town. The natural villages on the west side of the town have been rebuilt into a hot tourist area named as "Xizha" and serving as the permanent venue of the World Internet Conference (WIC).

Xizha also hosts the tomb of Mao Dun and the Mao Dun Memorial Museum, where visitors can admire the graceful handwriting of the writer from the manuscripts of Midnight and explore the man’s brilliant spirituality in a wonderful collection of exhibits.

In 1981, Mao Dun Literature Award was launched, using the 250,000-yuan donation from the writer. In the eye of Yan Jiayan, a famous writer, Mao Dun created a new literature genre that influenced many writers including Yao Xueyin who wrote  Li Zicheng and Zhou Erfu who wrote The  Morning of Shanghai, bestsellers of decades ago.Yu Dafu also spoke highly of the strong realism in Mao Dun's works:"He is an observer of the society, and his writing  comes from the reality of life…"

Wuzhen is also the birthplace, and the resting place, of renowned essayist Mu Xin, another cultural icon of the town. “The wind, the water, and a bridge…” The writer reminisced, before leaving the world.